*crash*
*screech*
"kyaaaa"
A broken TV, flower pot, windows, and fridge lay all around in a 600 sq. feet single room apartment.
"Why are you doing this? Please just leave us alone."
"You know why. Just tell us where he is and we won't disturb you anymore."
"I've already told you multiple times, that we don't know where he is. If I knew where that bastard is, I would have already told you so."
"Look, someone has to pay for what he did. Our reputation has gone into the gutters because of him. I'll give you 1 week, get me the location of where he is or you..... will have to pay for what he did."
"Let's go punks."
*slam*
*sigh*
----------
Late in the afternoon.
"The next two things you will learn are "Pressure Point Mastery" and "Kalaripayattu". For the first one, as the name suggests, you will learn about the various pressure points of the human body. There are many of them, and hitting the same pressure point could either make a person die or bring him from the door of death depending on the way and the amount of power applied to it. There are many applications of it like blindness inducement, paralysis, mental pain, making him feel cold as well as at the same time hot as hell, chi-blocking, and even healing someone's disease. If you master this technique, you can even insta-kill someone just by applying pressure to a correct pressure point."
"For starters, here is a book, read it and engrave its content in your mind of where they are located, what are their uses, what pressure point does what, everything. In the beginning, you will train on a dummy I've prepared and I'll be observing your every move. Boddh, be careful in this one for if you have not mastered it properly and when you go to treat someone with premature knowledge, you might even accidentally kill them."
"Hmmmm, Okay.", Boddh replied while nodding his head.
"The next training includes ancient martial art from Kerala called 'Kalaripayattu'. You know anything about it?"
"Yes, mom used to teach it to me and I also won a competition in it. And although there was no one to teach it to me after mom died, I've kept on practicing it on the parts that I knew."
"That's great! It means that you must already be somewhat proficient in it. What level are you at in it?"
"I'm only at the second stage."
"Hmmm, that means you have a good grasp of the stances performed. Show me the 'wild boar' posture."
The eight basic postures, called Vativus, in Kalaripayattu are based on animals - Elephant, Horse, Lion, Wild Boar, Rooster, Snake, Fish, and Cat posture. Besides these, there are five other exercises, 'Chuvatus' for neuro-muscular coordination, balance, and flexibility that improve the basic postures of the body.
The wild boar posture which Anurak asked Boddh to do was meant to strengthen the thighs and the base of the spine. Boddh stretched his body straight with hands straight up first and then moved ahead to do the stance.
Boddh got into a neutral position, then moved his left leg forward, screwed his pelvis a little into the front, the back foot open sideways a little bit and the distance between both his feet that of his calf, then reached forward with his left hand and then his moved his upper body back in such a way that front leg becomes straight and the back of the front hand over the forehead. Then, brought his elbow down towards the pelvis, palms of his hands near to each other but not quite touching, and then moved his body forward such that the back leg is opened. All the while, his back remains straight. Then he did the same thing with the other leg shifting the position from one side to the other and moving 10 steps forward like that and then 10 steps backward.
There was no hesitation, trembling in his body. Each movement - bringing the hand forward, moving the elbow towards the navel, moving forward and backward while in the stance in such a low position that he might even fall at any time with a single wrong movement of step - was so concisely and precisely done that his father could not find any faults to point out in it.
Anurak only admired what Boddh had shown to him.
'The movements and transitions are perfect. It shows that he has put quite a lot of effort to bring the stance to that form. Now, that he has a good grasp of the First Stage, we need to start with the Second one as it can't be taught without a master.'
There were four stages in Kalaripayattu -
1) The 'First Stage' - with rigorous body sequences involving twists, stances, and complex jumps and turns improve the body's flexibility, develops the core muscles, and make them capable enough to handle any kind of strain.
2) The 'Second Stage' - different wooden weapons are brought in and taught to the students like swords, daggers, sticks, spears, axes, maces, and even long-distance weapons like arrows, discuses, catapults, and boomerangs.
3) The 'Third Stage' - once the practitioner became proficient with all the wooden weapons, they proceed to "War Training" with metal weapons which require supreme concentration due to their lethality.
4) The 'Fourth Stage' - only after the practitioner is well-versed and a master of all weapons is he taught bare-handed fighting techniques like arm locks, grappling, and strikes to the pressure points. Martial arts like Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, Taekwondo, Judo, Karate, Kickboxing, you name it and the techniques will be there in Kalaripayattu bare-handed technique. This is considered the most advanced skill as it teaches the practitioner to convert his body into a living weapon.
The ancient system of rejuvenating the body with pressure point massage is also dealt with in the fourth stage.
The fourth stage is the last to be taught because it is the most lethal one out of all as every movement ends in a lethal attack that's why it is meant to be used only for self-defense. Kalaripayattu differs from many other martial arts systems in the world in that weapon-based techniques are taught first, and barehanded techniques are taught last.
"Good, since you have a good grasp of the First Stage, we will start with the second one. Which weapon are you most proficient in?"
"Sword! I was good in that one but haven't been able to practice since the age of 10 so can't say I'm good in it or not."
"Hmmmm, let's see what you are capable of.", Anurak brought out two wooden swords from his magic pouch and handed one to Boddh, and took the other in his own hands.
They both got ready to fight. Boddh approached Anurak warily. Anurak had a leisurely expression as he had one hand on his waist and his right holding the sword pointing down towards the ground. A drop of sweat flowed down from Boddh's head as neither of them moved from their spots. Boddh could instinctively feel his father's strength and that no matter what he tries, he won't be able to win.
"If you don't come, then I will, and believe me, that won't end well for you. Just forget everything and show me your best, it's just a test to see how much you have developed."
Anurak said this and spread his aura to Boddh. All anxiety disappeared from Boddh's mind and calmed down. After half a year of meditation using the 'Puratana Breathing Technique', his senses had grown tremendously. He could feel that his father had done something using his Chakra power to alleviate the tension in his mind.
"Thanks."
Anurak smirked and said, "Now, come!!"
At his signal, Boddh ran and jumped in the air as he slashed from left to right towards his father's head whereas Anurak only moved his head back slightly at the last moment and even though there was an opening to attack, he didn't do so as this as a test to see Boddh's martial art. Boddh, who knew the motive of this fight, attacked the ankle as soon as he got down which was also avoided as Anurak back-stepped from his position. Boddh immediately recomposed himself and brought his sword into a spear position and from that very low position thrust the sword towards his father's groin.
Anurak hurriedly used his sword the deflect the sword that was coming for his crotch like a reaper coming to claim one's life. Anurak had a bright smile on his face contrary to what showed on Boddh's face since even if he knew that he could not win, he wanted to break past his father's defense at least once.
'There is no hesitation in attacking the vital parts and the follow-up from one attack to another is almost perfect. The body is flexible too and if he can stretch his body in that manner in such a low position, the core strength is also beyond an average human. It's like he has the strength of a lion, the speed of a leopard, and the flexibility of a cat. Just...'
'... There is a hint of darkness on his sword. It comes and goes on its own. Seems like it will take a long time for him to overcome Yona's death. Although the corruption was more when I met him for the first time at the bridge, it has resided a bit after the meditation but is not completely gone...'
While he was having these thoughts, Boddh kept on attacking Anurak from different positions and focused his attacks on vital parts like the head's side, neck, and heart but he would always escape by a small margin.
Boddh then tried to attack Anurak's hands but then Anurak simply added a bit more strength and fended off Boddh's attack and the sword flew away from Boddh's hands.
"Okay, that's enough. You were good, attacking the vital parts, and the follow-ups flow was smooth. It was great, you just need some more experience. Now, that I have seen your sword fighting, it's time to check how good you are with other weapons.."
They, then, both fought with different weapons ranging from spears, maces, sticks, daggers, chakrams(discuses), bows and arrows, and much more. Though Boddh was great at wielding the sword, it couldn't be said the same about other weapons. It was mediocre at best. Still, it was not bad, being able to handle these many weapons and being a master of one of them was not an easy feat to achieve at the age of 15.
"Okay, I've seen enough. From tomorrow onwards, you are going to meditate from the morning till the afternoon, after that increase your proficiency in all the weapons, and at night, we will have a mock battle daily. Until you don't have a satisfactory mastery of all of them, you won't move to the 3rd Stage."
"Okay!"
"Now, shall we have some dinner?"
All the exhaustion left Boddh's body hearing the words of his father as he got up and stood straight and said in high spirits,
"Ohh! Can we have Pizza today? I've been craving it so much since the last time you made it. It was super tasty."
"... Sure, consider today your cheat day but no more demands like this until you enter the 3rd Stage of Kalripayattu, you got that?"
"Sure, dad. Thanks."
Anurak thought,
'I believe it would take him 3 years to master all those weapons and then will be the time to open his Kundalini.'
They both went inside the kitchen and had Pizza that night.
Boddh then went to bed and slept peacefully as another hellish chapter of training was going to start for him from tomorrow.